The night of 23 to 24 of June we celebrate in Spain la noche de San Juan (St John's night). It's the shortest and most special night of the year.
The fire becomes the king of the place, blazing in every corner of the country. Bonfires are started at 12am everwhere and the party goes on all night. Old and
young people sing and dance around the bonfire, throwing to the flames
their wishes written in a piece of paper.
Facing the bonfire, when you close your eyes and listen to the
fire's crackle, it's like if you were back many many years in history
to the pagans time, when the God of Sun was adored. This day is supposed to be in honour of Sain John the
Baptist, but in reality it's an old pagan festival to celebrate the
summer solstice and the power of the sun. It's the day when the sun
shines in the sky longer, but also begins its journey to the winter
solstice, that is a symbolic death. So in this day we celebrate life
and death, light and darkness, what is to be born and what is to be
left.
It's a night of magic and mistery, also called the
witches's night. There are many legends from ancient times, saying that
in this night Nature can show all its power, and the world of humans
mixes with the world of Faerie. Conjurations and celtic rituals for
love or money are made. Asturias, my region, is a land with celtic
roots and celebrations like the San John's night are lived very
intensely.
I was invited to my uncle's for dinner and we lit also our own
bonfire in the garden. It was a lovely night, spent together with my
family and my uncle's dog, who was scared most part of the time because
of the fire. Here are some of the pictures of this night:
Kindly submitted by Silvia Martínez Sánchez. You can read more of Silvia's journeys through Spain and life in her web-site and her lens
